Kokoro no Sakkaku：The Illusion of the Heart
by The Illustrious Tama
Summary: Of the realizations that come from the discovery of a book that could change the way that Sora, Riku and Kairi see the world and the relationship between light and dark. Zemyx, SoKai Riku?
1. Prologue: The Final Battle

**Title:** Kokoro no Sakkaku

**Pairings: **SoKai, Riku?, Zemyx

**Note: **Prologue takes place just after Sora defeats the last boss (Saix) in the Proof of Existence.

**Prologue: **The Final Battle.

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy stumbled back into the Proof of Existence, just having defeated the second last remaining Organisation member, Saix. The gang all looked at each other in slight trepidation, knowing that now that Saix had defeated they only had one Organisation member left to face: Xemnas. They stood in the centre of the Proof of Existence, silently acknowledging that this battle would be far bigger than all of their previous skirmishes. As both the final Organisation member and their leader, it went without saying that Xemnas would spare no expense in trying to defeat the Keyblade master and his friends. It was well established that Xemnas would stop at nothing to achieve his goal of regaining his heart.

Everyone looked at each other psyching themselves up for the next stage of their journey. The final battle.

"Ready guys?" Sora asked, flashing his friends his characteristically bright grin.

"Ready!" Donald echoed.

"Of Course Sora!" Kairi assured, placing her hand on Sora's.

"You know it!" Riku said in a slightly arrogant drawl.

"..." There was a pause as Sora, Riku, Kairi and Donald waited for their other friend to respond, however Goofy did not reply. Looking around, they realised that without their noticing Goofy had wandered over to the the side of the room, and was bent over one of the Organisation member's doorways.

"Goofy, what's up?" Sora asked curiously. He had to know what had caused Goofy to spoil one of their 'Three Musketeers' moments by failing to respond.

Goofy jumped silently, before picking something up and turning to face Sora and Donald. "Ahyuck, well guys. I think I've found someone's diary." He announced. He brought the royal blue notepad closer to his face and peered at it. "I think it belongs to one of Organisation XIII." Goofy casually walked over to Sora and Donald, taking his time.

"What makes you say that Goofy?" Donald asked, snatching the notepad away from their canine friend. Sora and Donald looked at it and then saw the name 'DEMYX' scrawled across the front in black marker.

"Oh, that's how." Sora said frankly. Staring at it.

"Why would an Organisation member keep a diary?" Riku asked.

"Gawrsh Riku, I don't really know. But wasn't Demyx the nobody that took notes on his mission details?" Goofy scratched his head. "Maybe this was where he kept those notes." Kairi stared at the diary, fascinated by the small book.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Donald said somewhat scathingly.

Sora meanwhile stood there listening to the exchange, staring at the blue notepad in Donald's hands. This diary could be an interesting read. It could give a valuable insight into the day to day runnings of the Organisation. If only it had come a little sooner.

"This would have been useful a few weeks ago." Riku said, glaring at the notebook in contempt as if it were somehow the book's fault that it hadn't been found sooner.

Gently Sora took the diary from Donald and hesitantly opened it to the first page, Donald began to read the first page with Sora from under his arm. As the diary opened, a loose sheet of folded paper fell from the book. Where Sora disregarded the paper, Kairi picked it up gingerly and unfolded it. She stared at the piece of paper in a mixture of surprise and awe. Riku and Goofy walked over to her and looked at the paper in curiosity and tilted their heads.

The piece of paper was in fact a piece of sheet music, covered in the tiny symbols denoting a song. The title simply said "Kokoro no Sakkaku." Whereas Riku and Goofy were lost, Kairi's eyes ran over the sheet of music and her eyes widened.

"This was written for piano." She whispered reverently. "Its beautiful and dark at the same time." She continued. Closing her eyes Kairi began to play out the first few notes in her head, thinking back to the piano lessons she used to have back in Destiny Islands. She had insisted on taking them when announced her love of all things artistic. Eventually she had come to the conclusion that her true passion lay in art and drawing, however she never forgot her piano lessons.

Sora and Donald meanwhile had turned their attentions away from the diary. The first page was strangely enough a list of all of the members of Organisation XIII. Sora fought the urge to laugh when he saw in gigantic letters the word "ME!" printed where the ninth member's name were to go.

Donald stepped away from the group, who had their attentions drawn away completely from the task at hand and growled. "Come on everybody! We have an Organisation Member to defeat!" He announced, effectively shaking everybody out of the reverie that they had been cast into with the discovery of Demyx's diary.

Riku shook his head and motioned for Sora to join him at the entrance. "Lets go Sora." He said.

"How did I let that guy's diary distract me that badly?" Sora asked himself as he walked to follow.

Riku grinned. "Maybe because your head's always in the clouds." He teased.

As Donald and Goofy ran to follow Kairi lingered behind captivated by something she had noticed on the sheet music, for at the very bottom of the sheet of music were the words 'Boku no ai no tame ni, Zekushion.' "For my love, Zexion." She whispered to herself. However, what startled her the most was that the sheet of music was covered in dried tears.

"Kairi! Come on slowpoke!" Sora called over his shoulder.

Shaking herself from her shocked stupor, she tucked the sheet of music inside of the belt of her dress and ran after Sora, Riku and the others, towards the final battle.

Owari

_Ok! This was just an idea that popped into my head late last night. I'm not sure whether to continue it or not, so I guess it depends on the feedback I get. Looking back on it, I can't help but remark on the irony that the final battle is at the beginning of the story... but whatever!_


	2. Of Islands and Initiations

**Title: **Kokoro no Sakkaku: The Illusions of the Heart

**Chapter: **Of Islands and Initiations

**Pairings:** SoKai, Riku?, Zemyx

**Note:** We finally get to see some Demyx in this Chapter, and a little Sora + Riku friendship in this chapter! The pairings are prone to change, depending on what people want.

_A Week after the Final Battle_

It had been a week since the final battle and 4 days since Sora had returned to the Destiny Islands. He and Riku had both been overjoyed at their return to their childhood home. Sora was glad for the return, for now he was free to be the person that he was meant to be before the Keyblade Master, and before the saviour of the Universe: himself. He could now indulge in the simple delights denied to him during his great adventure into the unknown. Sleeping in until midday, a home cooked meal, his mother's love...

Sitting on his favourite palm on the play island Sora couldn't help but think that life couldn't get much better than this. Still, despite this he couldn't help but think back to that fateful day 2 years ago when he, Riku and Kairi made a raft in hopes of sailing to another world. Sora laughed, thinking about how awry that particular adventure went.

"Hey Sora!" Riku called from the bridge.

Sora turned around and saw Riku standing there holding his old wooden sword. Sora couldn't help but flash back to that day on Hollow Bastion, now Radiant Garden, when Riku took the keyblade away from him and gave him a very similar wooden sword.

"Hey Riku, what's up?" Sora asked crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands.

Riku grinned and held up the wooden sword. "You have to ask?" He asked, revealing another wooden sword held behind his back.

Sora grinned and jumped down from the Paopu tree running up to Riku and grabbing the sword. Of course, just as Sora managed to grab the sword he stumbled over a stray twig and was sent flying, sending a certain blue notebook flying from where it lay forgotten in Sora's pack landing at the doorstep of the shack.

"What the?" Riku asked, ignoring Sora's somewhat embarrassing klutz attack. "Is that what I think it is Sora?" He asked running over to the notebook.

Sora sat up from where he was sprawled on the ground and rubbed his head. "What's what, Riku?" He asked, his eyes closed.

Riku turned around holding up the diary, the word DEMYX still scrawled in marker. "Its the diary that we found in the Proof of Existence on the World that Never Was." Riku said flicking idly to the first page, reading the list of names. He laughed when he saw number IV: 'Zexy'

Sora's eyes widened and he hastened to Riku's side grabbing the diary away from Riku's hands, thumbing through the pages without reading anything. He idly noted that dotted amongst the diary entries were random pieces of Sheet Music. "We never got to reading this did we." Sora remarked.

Riku snorted. "We were a little preoccupied with trying to defeat a psychopath Sora," He looked down on the book and rubbed the cover, "Its a wonder it wasn't damaged in the battle to tell you the truth."

Sora puffed his chest outwards proudly. "These clothes are magic. They're self repairing!" He said sagely.

Riku looked at his slightly dense friend and shook his head. "Alright then Sora. Whatever." Dismissing Sora's claim with a shake of his head.

Sora's eyes sparkled. "Hey, wanna read it? It couldn't hurt." Sora turned his baby blues on Riku and pouted, giving him the look no living person was capable of refusing.

Riku looked at Sora's puppy dog eyes and felt a portion of his heart melt a little. "Wasn't that the plan?" He asked Sora, watching as a large grin spread across his best friend's face. This gave Riku an idea. "Wait a minute Sora..." He trailed.

Sora looked up at him, pout coming back full force. "What is it now Riku? I wanna read Demyx's diary!" He whined, ignoring the strangeness of his sentence. In any normal situation his moral code would have kicked in and he would have done his best to resist the temptation to read the diary. But, Demyx was a nobody, and he was also a very dead nobody. Thus he wasn't really a person, in his eyes, and thus his moral code did not apply.

Riku gave him a smirk that almost scared Sora. It was that evil. "I think we should have a little contest."

Sora gaped. "WHAT? What for?"

Riku's smirk only widened. "I think we should have a little race to see what we should do. I mean, I was planning on visiting Kairi later on." Sora grimaced as he remembered that Kairi was currently sick in bed, after having a water fight with Tidus and Selphie. "But reading this diary could take all day."

Sora glanced down at the diary, noting how thick the book was and realised that Riku was probably right. "Yeah I suppose so. So what's the contest?"

Riku simply raised his wooden sword and grinned. "Need you ask?" He said.

Sora grinned and ran back to the mini island he had been on just before. Riku didn't even respond before lunging at Sora, the grin on his face speaking to the world of his joy. His joy about the fact that now, after everything they've been through, they could simply spar without the possibility that one of them may never leave the battle. There was simply Sora, the sword, the Play Island and the Thrill of the moment coursing hot through his veins.

2 Years ago a very similar situation had happened in this very spot. However, there were some significant differences marking their growth since then. For one their appearances had changed significantly. Riku had turned from a bumbling pre-teen, all legs and with the light of countless fun-filled summers in his eyes, into a handsome young man haunted with the a look of one who had suffered greatly spread all over his face. A look that disappeared the moment he and his best friend had begun to spar.

The only thing that mattered then was parrying every swing of Sora's sword, and calculating where the teen would land once airborne. In the thrill of the battle, for Riku, the worries of a thousand worlds vanished with the swing of his sword. And yet, even as this happened he was forced to acknowledge that Sora had finally succeeded in bettering him. With every spar with Sora he had, he was forced to acknowledge Sora's superiority time and time again. Surprising everyone, including himself, he was okay with this fact. This only made Riku even more eager to surpass his best friend once more. Sensing the end of this particular battle Riku grinned and thrust his wooden Sword in Sora's direction.

The grin that graced his face stayed constant, even when Sora finally disarmed him. After a few seconds in their ending pose, Riku on the ground with Sora standing above him, Riku's grin faded slightly and he looked over at the journal innocently lying where they had left it on the bend of the paopu tree.

"Looks like you won Sora." Riku drawled almost as if he were the one still armed. "So lets read that journal!" He said in much the same manner. He was cocky till the very end.

Sora began to have second thoughts, "Can we read it over at Kairi's place?" Sora asked, in an effort to compromise. "I want read it with her too." He said rubbing the back of his neck.

Riku looked over at his friend and examined his face briefly. By the sheepish look on Sora's face, it was just another excuse to see their regal friend. "Sure Sora," he said picking up the diary. "Lets go!"

20 Minutes later they were walking towards the Mayor's house having abandoned their boats at the beach. Riku loosely held the diary in his hands, wondering what a nobody would write in a diary. Sora on the other hand looked distracted. "Do you hear that?" Sora asked.

Riku turned to his friend and tilted his head, listening for something. He heard the faint sounds of a piano coming from inside the mayor's house. "You mean the piano?" At Sora's nod he continued "Yeah, wanna investigate?" He asked.

Sora nodded enthusiastically, already running towards the house dragging Riku along behind him. "Of Course! Lets go!" He exclaimed.

Only one thought crossed Riku's mind as Sora dragged him along, not even bothering to knock on the door: 'Typical Sora.' Sora dragged them along, following his ears to where he heard the music coming from. They ended up standing quietly in front of a large white door on the ground floor. Someone behind that door was evidently playing the piano.

"Lets go then." Sora said, already half expecting who it would be.

Sure enough, as they opened the door they were greeted by a pale looking Kairi, quietly playing the piano. Sora, thanks to his limited musical training in Atlantica, could hear a few fumbles in her playing, but needless to say she was playing beautifully. It made Sora look at her in a different light to the pre-loved light of friendship. He noticed how Kairi's eyes were focussed completely on the task at hand, and how her fingers lightly touched the piano's keys almost tenderly. Never had Sora felt more affectionate for the girl than at that moment.

As if in a trance, Sora walked up to Kairi and placed a hand on her shoulder. Still standing at the door, Riku stood by and simply watched his friend feeling the cold stab of jealousy as he realised that he just might be a third wheel. Not one person said a word until the song had finished a few minutes later.

"Wow." Sora breathed softly, his eyes focussed on Kairi. "I didn't know you played." He continued looking into Kairi's eyes. He noticed that they were filling up with silent tears.

"I didn't. Not for years." Kairi began, sadness creeping into her voice. "But I decided to pick it up again when we found that diary." She whispered, gently running her hands along the pristine black and white keys. "Do you remember that Sora?" She asked, looking at Sora in the eyes.

Riku chose that moment to cut in. "That's actually why we came here. We wanted to read it with you." He said holding up the diary in his hands, the name DEMYX emblazoned on its sea blue cover. Riku's voice lacked its usual cocky tone, humbled as he was by the magnificence of Kairi's piano playing and the song that fell from her fingers.

Kairi smiled at Riku and picked up the sheet of paper in front of her. "That was Zexion's song." She stated, showing her friends the music. Sora took the music from her and looked at the paper, noting the tearstains and the end note: "Boku no ai no tame ni, Zekushion."

They stayed silent for a few short seconds, Kairi seemingly deep in thought. If Sora cared to look, which he didn't, he would have noticed that Kairi absently switched her sights from the music to Sora. Riku however, did notice and had a sneaking suspicion as to the link between the two.

"So." Kairi said, breaking herself out of her reverie, "You said we were going to read Demyx's diary." Sora nodded. "I think that's a great idea."

They didn't even bother moving to another room after that. They simply sat in a circle on the floor in front of the piano the diary laid out in the centre.

"Shall I read?" Riku offered.

Sora pouted, "Ooh," he moaned "I wanted to read it." Sora crossed his arms but made no motion to take the diary. Riku took this as an invitation to start reading.

"So I take it you're fine with me reading then." Riku drawled shifting the diary into his lap.

Kairi giggled at her friends antics. "Just hurry up already!" She said between giggles.

Riku grinned and pushed up a pair of non-existent glasses up his nose. "Well okay then." He peered at the diary and noted that there was no dates. He shrugged and began to read nonetheless.

_Hi, my name is Demyx, and I am number IX in Organisation XIII. My element is water, and it couldn't have been a better one, I love the way it runs through my fingers and the melodic simplicity of waves crashing. Anyway, my weapon is a Sitar and it says a lot about me. I'm a musician by nature. I play as many instruments as I can, and in particular I love String instruments. Anyway, I bought this diary to celebrate my initiation into Organisation XIII._

_I don't really remember what my life was like before today, only that according to my new Superior Xemnas the only difference was back then I didn't have a heart. He told me this when he first approached me, which was when I was apparently first born. I don't know where I was born, only that I was battered bruised and naked. Standing in front of me was a guy whose first words to me were, "My name's Xemnas and you don't have a heart." (Okay so he didn't say that but that's pretty much the gist of it.) I didn't get what he meant when he said that I didn't have a heart, the smart side of my brain said that had to be impossible because I was still alive. I told him that and he said "See for yourself." And so, I put my hand to my chest and tried to feel for my heartbeat. The thing was, it didn't exist. No matter how hard I tried to find it, my heartbeat stayed stubbornly out of reach. _

_Try diary to understand my shock when I realised that the superior was right. The heartbeat was the backbone of each great song and every famous composition. Without it, a piece of music is simply chaotic, and hollow. The beat is what keeps everything together. For me to not have a heart is pretty much saying that my life is hollow. Without my beat, how could my music be born? At that moment, when Xemnas told me that I had no heart, he was really saying that my life was hollow. The biggest blow however, was that no matter how much my brain protested that I should be sad, I should be angry and that this new knowledge should be the biggest blow of my life the only thing I felt was empty. I am simply stuck with the knowledge that I should be feeling sad, but aren't. _

_But, after that Xemnas told me that he was the head of a group of these nobodies, as they call us apparently, who's goal was to give us back our hearts. His words gave me a new sense of hope that someday my music will have a heart, and will not be the hollow thing I knew that it would be. Allowing me to join this Organisation gave me a new purpose. Instantly I found myself giving this man my unwavering support, and I knew that I would let nothing stop me and my new Organisation brothers attaining that goal._

_After I came to this decision I noticed that Xemnas had extended his hand for me. I also noticed that he was getting annoyed that this was taking so long. So I took it. He helped me to my feet and he gave me a bundle of clothes and a small cheese sandwich sitting innocently on top. After letting me get dressed he told me that I should follow him to where I was now going to live._

_Anyway, there's more to my initiation than that, but I'll leave that for later. Its now 6.30 and now dinner time. My superior Sa__ïx cooks dinner and one thing I've learned during my whole day in the Organisation is that you don't get on his bad side._

"And that's where it ends." Riku said simply.

Kairi was the first to speak. "Wow, I kinda feel bad for him now. I mean, how would you feel if your first memory was of someone telling you that you don't have a heart?" She asked spiritedly.

Sora tilted his head trying to see the situation from Demyx's point of view. It was considerably hard as he couldn't even fathom not being able to emote. And that's when he understood where Kairi was coming from. Despite the fact that Demyx should not have existed, he had to concede that it must have been hell for him to be told that his life was hollow during his first moments of non-existence.

"I..." Sora began "I understand what you mean."

This caught Riku's attention. Unlike Sora, no matter how hard he tried he could not find any sympathy for the nobody. Only a bitter taste in his mouth and a stray thought, wondering what Demyx's somebody must have been like.

"I don't." He said softly.

Sora and Kairi looked over at their friend and fell into an awkward silence.

__

_AN: Kudos to anyone who can catch the symbolism in Demyx's diary._


	3. A Heartfilled Friendship

**Title: **Kokoro no Sakkaku: The Illusions of the Heart

**Chapter: **Of Islands and Initiations

**Pairings:** SoKai, Riku?, Zemyx

**Note:** Zexion is revealed, and Riku listens to Kairi. References to Chain of Memories. And seeing as how nobody got the symbolism in the last chapter I'll point it out. Later on, in the story. Oh, and 'cause I was bored I put a random fact in here. Nothing to do with the story, buts good to know anyway!

**Random fact of the Day: **The Word Dude was coined by Oscar Wilde and his friends and is a mixture of the word Duds (meaning pants or clothing or something) and Attitude.

__

Riku stared at the diary sitting in his lap. Kairi and Sora stared at him. The atmosphere brought about by his revelation, that he didn't understand why Demyx should be pitied, cut through the air like Sora's keyblade and suffocated him. Looking up, Riku saw Sora and Kairi staring at him and he understood what the real problem was. With his revelation, came the understanding that because of his past experiences and his brushes with the darkness he had lost a part of him that not many were able to gain back: his compassion. Whilst this shared understanding brought Sora and Kairi ever closer together it served to make Riku fundamentally aware of just how many bridges he'd have to climb before their carefree dynamic of two years ago was resurrected.

"I have to go now." Riku said, stalking out of the door in a hurry. Sora, for reasons unknown, started to imagine Riku in a black cape reminding him of a bat. But despite the humour of this image he didn't laugh. How could he?

Kairi looked at Sora and smiled. She placed a hand on his and spoke "Just give him a little bit. You can't recover from the darkness overnight after all."

*

Riku stalked away from the mayor's house with his mind ablaze. He didn't understand why the nobodies deserved pity, let alone one as cowardly as Demyx. Not being able to feel emotions was often what Riku craved for the most. To be able to detach himself from his inner battle and seek solace in a state of neutrality. However, he also understood that it was that act of giving up that caused him to continue his fight with Xehanort's heartless after the debacle of Castle Oblivion. Thus Riku was torn between envying the nobodies and hating them, for it was in their very nature to not truly feel emotions. They had the gift of avoiding the weaknesses brought about by human emotion but they also had the curse of not being able to truly feel, a state that left them in a state of perpetual twilight not being able to truly belong to good nor evil.

The revelations from that single diary entry never left Riku's head, and they seemed to reverberate replaying those words time and time again. However, one thing stood out in his mind eye: the words that Demyx had written towards the very end. That with the act of taking Xemnas' hand he had pledged his life to him, dedicating his existence ('non-existence' Riku substituted) to serving Xemnas in his quest to gain a heart. He remembered seeing the same form of dedication in someone else: in that of Goofy and Donald's pledge to serve King Mickey through thick and thin.

Revelation hit Riku like a ton of bricks, and he couldn't believe he didn't see it earlier. Demyx saw Xemnas as his saviour just as Donald and Goofy saw King Mickey as their hero and a validation for existence. Just as Donald and Goofy had dedicated their lives to serving King Mickey, Demyx had found validation in Xemnas' cause. Xemnas had become a messiah to Demyx, and Riku wondered right then and there whether this was the same for the others of the Organisation. He stopped dead in his tracks. In order to find out more he'd have to go back, and face Sora and Kairi and the knowledge that he was quickly becoming a third wheel.

Riku turned around and began walking back the way he came, a considerable distance considering that he had been walking home: on the other side of the main island, and had made it halfway there at a half run. The long walk back gave him time to think about Sora and Kairi though. It was plainly obvious that Sora and Kairi were in love, even though they were in plain denial. That left him as the third friend, or third wheel. But Riku was confident in his friendship with Sora and Kairi and he knew that no matter what would happen they would find an arrangement that left no party wanting. Sora would be together with Kairi and he would still maintain their friendship. Sora would finally get the girl like the hero always does, so why did the very thought of this leave a bitter taste in his mouth?

Riku broke into a run and began to weave through the streets, banishing the thought from his mind.

*

Meanwhile at the mayor's house, Sora and Kairi had moved to the Piano stool. Kairi was once more playing Demyx's song, and once more she was met with the feeling of emptiness. She didn't understand what caused these emotions inside of her. All that she knew was that somehow, the music was not complete. It was lacking a crucial element that made the music whole. Instantly she knew what that element was.

Kairi stopped playing and stared at the sheet music in front of her and looked once again at the inscriptions on the sheet music. She examined the teardrops staining the sheet music and understood that what she was missing was purpose. In order for the song to be complete she needed to find the person to whom her song belonged, like Demyx did. Only then would her song be complete, and her heart full. Sora placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. Kairi looked over at him, examining his enormous smile and hands to match and grinned. She knew that she'd find that person some day.

At that moment Riku came bursting into the room like a bat out of hell, startling Sora and Kairi out of their precious moment... Too late however because Riku saw their little scene and couldn't help but grin madly, his friends were so oblivious towards each other.

"So, I guess something interesting happened while I was gone?" Riku drawled slyly, enjoying the looks on Sora and Kairi's faces as they blushed madly.

"What about you, eh?" Sora yelled pointing his finger at Riku accusingly "Where did you run off to in such a hurry?"

He automatically knew it was the wrong thing to do when Riku's face darkened, his grin falling into a scowl. Sora's hand fell and he grew hesitant. He didn't notice Kairi sitting beside him, looking disappointed. At least, not until it was too late.

"Just leave it be okay? Can we read the next chapter of that diary?" Riku asked him softly.

Sora looked up at Riku and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry Riku. I didn't mean it."

Riku looked up at Sora and smiled. Sora remembered that it was the same small smile he gave when he regained his body back on The World that Never Was. "Let's just read that diary Sora. No need to get emotional!"

Sora grinned at Riku, who grinned back. They both tensed up and Kairi sensed what was coming before it happened. That's why she stepped away from the diary and slid it to a bare part of the room, with no breakables in sight. At the same time Riku and Sora dove for the diary, in a battle to see who would read it aloud. As Sora was closer, this time Sora won.

Sora leapt up from his position on the floor holding the diary up like some sort of trophy and grinned madly. "And Sora wins again!" Sora stuck his tongue out at Riku before strutting over to a corner of the room and flopping down onto the floor, his legs spread out in front of him. Sora gestured around himself, clutching his well earned prize, waiting for his friends to join him.

Riku and Kairi grinned at Sora, glad that someone had broken the tense atmosphere of earlier and joined him, sitting with him side by side. He noticed that Kairi sat closer to him than normal, and Sora was almost hyperactively aware of Kairi's presence besides him. He fought the urge to blush.

"So, lets get started then!" Sora exclaimed, opening up to the next diary entry.

_Sorry about the wait! _Demyx wrote. _Dinner took a little more time than expected. I was introduced to the rest of the Organisation! Including me we now have officially 9 members; a fine number if you ask me, but Xemnas insisted that we needed to recruit more nobodies. He said that it was his goal to recruit all of the sentient nobodies, whatever that means! I don't know when he'll stop recruiting but, when he was filling me in on the plan, he said that we'd need a special kind of nobody in order to our plans to work. _

Sora gulped before continuing to read, knowing that the nobody that they had needed was in fact Roxas: the nobody of the keyblade bearer. He felt Riku and Kairi rub his shoulders and with that he began to continue reading.

_Personally I think I'm a special kind of nobody, but I suppose I'm not what the Organisation is looking for. Xemnas had made it clear that he requires us to fight these creatures called the heartless. I don't think that I'm the right person for the job. I mean, I can handle running and hiding, but I could never fight someone, or anything for that matter. Xemnas had me fight a heartless earlier today to test my worth or something like that. The moment I laid eyes on the creature I automatically thought that it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. Or at least, my brain told me so even if my heart remained unresponsive (because its not here at the moment obviously). Fighting it was the hardest thing I had ever done, and not because it was hard to beat because that was the easy part. No, the hard part was killing the creature when every time I saw it I could feel the shadow of compassion welling up inside of me, telling me that it was wrong._

_So yeah, I'm not the right person for the job. I'm not cut out for the Organisation but, there's no way that I'm going to quit. Admittedly it's partially because Xemnas scares me, but also because being in the Organisation is the only way I can feel whole again. I have a purpose here._

_Oh, speaking of purposes I have to tell you diary about something. When Xemnas was introducing me to the Organisation members my shadow emotions reacted as well! I mean, when he introduced Xigbar I automatically made a note to become friends with him because as scary as he is with those guns of his, he sounded pretty cool. I liked him, or at least, I could remember that I would like him. Oh geez! This emotion business is hard! _

_Anyway, the thing is that something strange happened when he introduced me to Number VI, Zexion. I remember it perfectly, Xemnas gestured towards him saying "This is Number VI, number IX." I opened my mouth to ask what his name was, but he spoke first. "My name is Zexion. However, be forewarned that you call me this at your own peril." I'm actually surprised I remembered all of those big words what with the way I was feeling at that moment. At that moment, I felt my chest thump. It honestly felt like my heart skipped a beat the moment I saw him and I heard his voice. I don't understand why… I mean, his hair is all over his face and makes him look sad, and his voice is really monotonic. But, the thing is, the moment I saw him another shadow emotion filled my head. The moment I saw him I knew that I was attracted to him. It was the most painful feeling ever because, what I knew should be filling my heart and my head with fireworks and butterflies, making me giddy with happiness only caused a thump where my heart should be and the knowledge that being a nobody was the worst thing in the world. _

_I know that I should like Zexion, but at the same time my heart feels empty. It's like the worst of apathy and elation. But, even though I was feeling that way, the moment I left I couldn't help but smile because I had actually felt something if only for a second. I should probably go to sleep now. I have a mission in the morning. I need to do some reconnaissance on Agrabah!_

Sora, Riku and Kairi didn't have much to say after that. They sat there staring at the diary in a mixture of surprise and shock. Kairi wasn't so shocked, seeing as how she was the only one to understand the notes in Japanese.

"So, Demyx was gay?" Sora asked.

Kairi nodded, "Yeah, I thought you knew that Sora!" She exclaimed. "It said so right there on the sheet music!" Kairi got up and brought back the tearstained sheet of music. "Boku no ai no tame ni." She read aloud. "That means for my love, Zexion."

Sora poked his tongue out at Kairi, "I'm sorry that not everyone can speak Japanese, your highness!" He teased.

Kairi grinned. "You know it!" She said, not denying the very true statement that she was a Princess. "If I am a princess then you must be my knights then!" She said happily.

Sora and Riku both looked at each other thinking the exact same thin.

"We'd pledge our lives to you, my lady." Sora and Riku said in unison, now kneeling on the ground in front of Kairi. She noted that this was said in all seriousness.

"We'll always be together right?" She asked.

Riku grinned. "We'll always be together. I'll be there for you." Riku said sincerely.

Sora nodded. "I promise that no matter what happens I'll protect you, no matter what." He pledged.

Grinning Kairi said nothing more, gathering her two best friends in a tight hug. Nothing else needed to be said.

__

Meanwhile, on the play island in the secret place trouble was brewing. The small cave was lit by a dull blue light coming from the strange fungus growing on the walls. The door remained locked and remained safe. Yet, as the minutes drew on the shadows in the cave began to grow at an alarming rate before seeming to rise out of the ground into the menacing forms of the neoshadows. One of the shadows cantered its way over to the wall of drawings and stood there for a moment before raking a hand over one of the walls. In its wake the small paopu fruit joining the pictures of Sora and Kairi was now erased from the wall, a row of claw marks in its stead.


	4. The Plan

**Title:**Kokoro no Sakkaku: The Illusions of the Heart

**Chapter:**Of Islands and Initiations

**Pairings:** SoKai, Riku? Zemyx

**Note:** Things start to pick up a little on Sora's end as I introduce some action into the mix. The storyline also begins to rear its big head!

If there was one thing that Sora had missed during his travels it was his room. It was his sanctuary in which he could do whatever he wanted (within reason). The day he had returned the moment he had stepped into the room it was as if nothing had changed. It was just as messy as ever, his bed still looking freshly slept in, and that stray pair of pants that he had left lying around still sitting on the floor. That day he had looked to his mother, who was standing at the door, and asked her a silent question 'Why has nothing been touched?' She only stared at Sora from where she was leaning in the doorway with tears in her eyes.

From his mother's perspective the view was enlightening. Her son had finally returned to her; however he had changed fundamentally during his two year absence. Sora stood out in his room like a beacon of light cutting through the night's sky. Sora's mother had kept his bedroom the same in hopes of preserving the memory of the son she had almost lost. Now that he was back, she could almost see his younger self superimposed over the top of the now 16 year old Sora. The image made her want to cry, for the years that she missed and for the fact that she now had the opportunity to see him for one last time.

In the present, Sora was lying down on his bed with his feet dangling off of the edge, a testament to the inches he had gained during his sleep. However, despite Sora's relaxed appearance he could not sleep. Every time he tried to go to sleep he automatically thought of how nice it felt to have Kairi hugging him and how he wished that Kairi would only hug him. The thought of this embarrassed him, causing him to blush. He was glad that Donald wasn't here. He probably would have started to tease him.

Just as Sora started to think about turning onto his side, in hopes of getting to sleep, he heard an explosion that rocked him to the core. Shooting bolt upright he looked out of his window looking towards the docks and the play island, and noticed that Riku's boat was not docked at the harbor. However, that was not the first thing he saw, for stretching into the nights sky was an enormous fireball, the likes of which Sora did not expect to see on Destiny Island. Squinting he could see the faint flashes of battle, through the smoke and dust leftover from the blast.

Sora wasted no time in running out of his room and out of the house, saying nary a word to his mother.

Sora's mother watched him run out of the door and smiled into the teacup that she was holding to her lips. It was exactly like a certain night two years ago, when the world as she knew it ended. Then, just like today, he had rushed off to help his friends. The only difference between now and then was the fact that her Sora wasn't a bumbling teenager, and had somehow become a striking young hero.

With a sigh she put down her teacup and made a wish that her Sora would come home again soon.

*

When Sora arrived at the play island he was shocked to find an eerily familiar scene. All over the docks, the entire island was covered in heartless. Only, instead of the relatively weak shadow heartless of two years ago, the island was swarming by its tougher cousin, the neoshadow.

Looking around he realized that in order to get to Riku, he would have to defeat all of these creature and make his way to the mini-island where he could see Riku desperately fighting the shadows swarming the island.

With a frown Sora began to concentrate solely on eliminating the heartless. With that, Sora's keyblade began to swing through the sky, his light eliminating the shadows.

*

Riku had come to the play island at sunset to think things through. He had had a lot to think through at that time, and wanted to ponder once more the subject of the nobody. For one thing, the nobodies had the inability to truly feel emotions, that much was true. However, they remembered what emotions were. After thinking on the subject, Riku concluded that this fact simply made the nobodies limited as a being, and having no ability to feel emotions sucked.

At that thought Riku sat up and withdrew Demyx's diary from his pocket. He has asked if he could take it home with him, so he could read it. Personally, Riku liked to think of it as research into his enemy, if not Demyx than the nobodies. They may not exist anymore, not that they ever did Riku thought, but research like this was something that he brain craved. Although, Riku admitted, he did feel a little guilty reading more of the diary without telling Sora and Kairi. He hoped that they wouldn't mind.

_I'm at Agrabah at the moment. _Demyx wrote. _My job is to monitor the Princess of Heart, Jasmine I think her name is, and report back to Xemnas her daily movements… it's really boring work. I mean all she does is mope around her room, eat, and visit her little boy toy Aladdin. Okay, she also spends time in her menagerie, but I'm not game enough to go in there. She has a pet tiger for crying out loud! If I go in there, I'm going to be eaten. So, I avoid that. _

_Speaking of avoiding people I've been kinda avoiding Zexion. He's makes me feel like I have a heart. I can feel it thump for a split second before it dies away again. Every time it happens its like the worst form of torture. For that moment my music has a beat again, before it is painfully taken away. I'm given a sliver of hope before it is taken away from me. Apparently that's just like Zexion though. Axel, number VIII, was telling me about him (after I asked) and he said that he's cold and calculating. Apparently he doesn't like getting his hands dirty and so he creates these schemes in order to get what he wants. Apparently they often involve playing at people's weak points._

With a start Riku remembered his and Zexion's encounter in Castle Oblivion. Back then Zexion played off of his friendship with Sora. That experience was one of the worst ones for him. No matter what happened, Riku had never been able to wipe away the memory of pure anger that the illusion projected to him. He realised that at least in this respect, Demyx was true. Clenching a fist, Riku continued to read.

_I wonder what Zexion would make me see if he were to battle me? Apparently he's the kind of person who would play off of a person's weak points. I personally don't see how someone could do something like that. I hate fighting, and I've always seen that kind of battle tactic to be the worst kind of fighting. My brain is screaming at me that Zexion is a bad person (or nobody as the case may seem). So why do I react this way whenever I see him? _

_That's why I've been avoiding him. I don't want to think about this kind of thing for the meantime. But still, at every meeting, I can't help but wonder whether, perched upon that chair of his, that he's noticed who I am._

_In the meantime I suppose, I've got to just keep working. I don't like the idea of monitoring the Princess. We aren't even going to kidnap her. The only thing Xemnas seems to care about right now is creating heartless. And I know enough about the Princess of Heart to know that they don't create heartless, their hearts are too pure for that. Maybe this is just a mission to get me out of the way. I mean, this is only my first mission. Nobody seems to like me in the Organisation. _

_Anyway, I found out something interesting while I was exploring the castle. You know how you walk around places and accidentally on purpose hear conversations. Well, that happened to me today. Only, it was just outside the Superior's office. Xemnas and Saïx were sitting in the room talking as usual about stuff. Then they mentioned something about a backup plan that I found really interesting._

_What I remember is this (I'll write in Script form to make it easier)_

_Xemnas: So do you have all of the details for the backup plan?_

_Pause_

_Saïx__: Yes superior, everything is going smoothly. Vexen is creating the replicas as we speak._

_And that's when I decided that I had to keep moving or else I'd get turned into a dusk. But it's good to know that the Organisation I've joined has a backup plan. I mean, what kind of self respecting Organisation dedicated to gaining hearts would run around without a backup plan? Not a very good one that's for sure._

Riku's head jolted upright at those words. It hadn't crossed the minds of anyone that Organisation XIII would have a backup plan. Riku had always just assumed that the nobodies had focussed purely on the one goal. He hadn't heard anything about a backup plan when he had infiltrated them that one time.

Leaning backwards, Riku dismissed the thought from his mind. What good would a backup plan do if any of the nobodies didn't exist anymore?

He had been sitting on the branch of the paopu tree watching the sunset when it happened. He had been looking around the island, once again savouring the fact that he was finally home when out of the corner of his eyes he saw a shadow move.

Instincts born out of years of fighting the heartless, creatures known to swim in the shadows, caused him to instantly come to attention. A heartbeat later the Way to Dawn glittered into existence, held at the ready. He waited in his position, still seated on the paopu tree with his keyblade held out, frozen as he waited to see whether the shadow really was a heartless or merely a hallucination brought on by his rehabilitation into the world of civilians.

When the shadow failed to do anything other than sit there Riku sighed and banished away his keyblade. He rubbed his forehead with his knuckles,

"I'm going to have to get used to this." He muttered. He cursed the years that he spent away from Destiny Islands. The years of near constant battle had caused the teenager to become battle-hardened and even more cynical than before.

The heartless struck whilst his eyes were shut. Riku heard it rushing through the air with his ears trained extensively through months of fighting blindfolded.

He didn't bother opening his eyes before he attacked, he didn't need to. In a split second he had summoned his keyblade once more and had sliced the heartless in a fatal strike across the belly. Opening his eyes he watched as the remnant heart soared into the air before disappearing. Riku leapt down from the paopu tree and settled into his battle position, and readied himself for the battle he knew was coming.

He just hoped that Kairi stayed away from the play island. Keyblade bearer or no, he wouldn't be able to stand it if his princess came into the line of fire. But even if she did he would protect her, he had sworn an oath after all.

Slowly but surely the heartless began to swarm Riku, drawn by the power of the keyblade he wielded. As the minutes turned to hours Riku could sense no end to the fighting. As he felt himself wearing thin through the constant melee he began to use magical techniques.

After that Riku began to sense that the battle was starting to turn to his favour. The volume of heartless swarming around him began to lessen, a fact he was thankful for because Riku was starting to tire. Riku slashed at one of the neoshadows that swarmed him, killing it instantly. It was after this that the rest of the heartless scampered away into the shadows. Riku remained weary. This could not be a good sign.

Slowly, the shadows began to mass together bringing all of the shadows together, massing together until the island was shrouded in a cloak of darkness protected even from the moonlight. Riku spun around, looking for a shred of light in the darkness that surrounded him but found none. Riku set his teeth and settled into a defensive position, shutting his eyes. It would appear that he would have to fight blind.

He heard a whisper from the wind, and Riku's head tilted seeking out the source of the noise. Sensing its direction, he spun to face his opponent and opened his eyes. He was faced with only darkness.

That's when he heard it.

"Give in to the darkness," a deep and very familiar baritone said. The voice was so close that Riku could hear it speaking into his right ear. The problem was that he could also hear the faint sounds of movement a good distance to his left. Looking in that direction he could see the shrouded form of Xehanort's heartless lurking in the shadows.

"That can't be right." Riku muttered to himself. Xehanort's heartless was a being trapped inside of him, destroyed in the corporeal world with Riku's transformation into his true form.

That's when it occurred to him that his opponent was using illusions against him, just like Zexion did.

However, at that moment he heard the whispers of an explosive force powerful enough to break through his opponent's illusion. Shutting his eyes, this time in resignation, he hoped that Kairi or Sora was in the vicinity of the blast range.

Suddenly the idea of Organisation XIII having an active backup plan didn't seem like such a farfetched idea after all.

*

When Sora had finally defeated all of the heartless around him he looked over at Riku. Riku was standing in his defensive position his head tilted to the side, listening desperately for any sign of his enemy. What had Sora confused though was that his enemy was standing right in front of him, a human sized shadow illuminated by the moonlight.

__

_I made a guesstimate on the length of time of Sora's journey. He was asleep for a year, and I guessed that all of that travelling realistically would have taken a few months to complete. So I rounded it all to two years roughly, meaning that Sora had his birthday sometime during KHII. It's probably not canon but it's what I'm using for this story. Feel free to correct me though, that's what is for!_


	5. The Battle for Destiny Islands 1

**Title: **Kokoro no Sakkaku: The Illusions of the Heart

**Chapter: **The Battle for Destiny Islands

**Pairings:** SoKai, Riku? Zemyx

**Note:** I'm sorry about the long wait! I blame it on my computer kicking the bucket, can't open anything (even windows now). I had to start it from scratch, and coupled with exam study it just caused one big muck up my end. So, here's a long one for ya! Also, I don't know how, but this became Riku centric. Oh well!

Also, a note on the timelines for this story: In case you can't quite follow things, Sora's part of the battle is actually an hour after Riku's (that being the length of time it took Sora to get to the Play Island after the explosion).

__

Riku stared around himself, trying desperately to peer through the seemingly endless darkness surrounding him. He desperately tried to focus his mind on the battle at hand, however, the only thing in his head were a million speculations about what Organisation XIII's backup plan could have been. Riku's mind was only partially focussed on the battle, and this was something that his opponent took advantage of.

With an explosive force, Riku felt something hit the front of his head with such a force that he was blown backwards hitting the hexagonal force field surrounding the miniature island. Looking up in a daze, he saw Ansem standing before him, a grin plastered across his face, and the Way to Dawn clutched in his hands, identical to the keyblade he himself held in his hands.

"You cannot win, for the darkness will encompass all." The fake Ansem drawled, slowly walking towards him, keyblade raised at the level of Riku's neck. With every step Ansem took Riku, still hazy from the blow to the head, scrambled backwards moving in a clockwise fashion around the barrier.

His movements halted when he ran into an invisible object that felt like his favourite Paopu tree. As quick as he could Riku bolted upright, moving automatically into his defensive position, facing down an Ansem that had now moved chest to chest with Riku, only separated by the twin blades locked against each other. It was closer than Riku ever wanted to be to the Ansem he used to claim to be.

"Give in to the darkness." Ansem drawled, his foul breath blowing across Riku's face. Riku scrunched up his nose and with a herculean effort pushed the Ansem backwards, sending him stumbling through the small boulder he knew to be there. However, Riku did not notice, instead he charged towards Ansem vaulting straight over the invisible Paopu tree, towards the one character he could see within the darkness.

However, before Riku could reach him the Ansem disappeared, leaving Riku once again in darkness. Riku paused in his actions, remaining frozen in his place for a split second before hesitantly moving into a standing position. For a few minutes he was left simply standing there, the distant sounds of the wind blowing his only companions. Riku used this opportunity to think about how he could defeat a monster that he could not see.

The answer came like a lightning strike, it was obvious. Riku straightened up and shut his eyes firmly relying completely on his senses of hearing and smell. At first, the illusion overwhelmed his senses, however, slowly, as the illusion died away with nothing to confuse, the sounds of the ocean came back to Riku. He also heard the faint shuffling of a person moving around the grassy ground of the island.

Holding a couple of fingers to his forehead as he tried desperately to determine the monsters position, he mentally prepared a Dark Aura attack. When he heard the person come to a close somewhere to his left, next to one of the palm trees dotting the miniature island, Riku turned around as quick as a flash and let loose the Dark Aura attack on his mysterious assailant.

For the first time he heard the true voice of his foe, crying out in shock as the attack hit. It was a voice eerily similar to that of Zexion's, and yet, not the same. Whilst it had the same throaty drawl as the now deceased nobody, there was something about it that seemed off. It was as if Zexion, like Xehanort, had manifested a sentient humanoid heartless. It was such an absurd notion that Riku automatically dismissed the voice as entirely a coincidence.

"You have predicted my true whereabouts," The voice whispered, now somewhere to Riku's left. "Very clever. However, I won't be as lax again." The voice whispered now in his ears.

With that, the sound of the ocean disappeared as it became clear that the entity strengthened its illusion.

Once more Ansem's deep voice rang through the air, sly and seductively, trying to reel Riku in. Riku began to wonder whether he should do what the man said, and give in to his dark side once more. At that moment, the only thing Riku could remember from that time was his strength. He was strong enough to defeat Roxas and bring back his best friend. If he were to give in then, wouldn't he be able to defend Destiny Islands?

However, he then remembered the downside of the darkness. Throughout that time he was surrounded by the guilt of giving in, wallowing in the bitterness that resulted from it. He had become Ansem, and it was almost killed him inside. No, he would not give in. He could do this, he would do it for Sora.

Riku straightened up and desperately strained his ears for any sign of the man. That's when he caught the faint sounds of a very familiar battle cry, a sound that gave him a boost in his waning courage. Sora had arrived on the scene.

Settling into a defensive position, Riku turned his head backwards and forwards, seeking out with his heart that which could not be found. He sensed it standing right before him, holding what seemed to be one of the discarded wooden swords lying around the play island. Not outwardly reacting, Riku silently lashed out with his keyblade and struck the entity in the shoulder, or at least that's what he was aiming to do, and for the first time he caught a glimpse of his foe.

The man was a shock to Riku's system, for standing in front of him, clutching his now wounded shoulder was what could only have been Zexion. The same Periwinkle blue hair, covering his left eye, clad in an identical set of Organisation XII's robes. Gone were his thoughts of sentient heartless now. Instead he was thinking to himself, 'How did this happen, a replica?'

Perhaps this was what Demyx had heard Saix and Xemnas talking about? Maybe this was Organisation XIII's back up plan. But, then again, didn't Demyx write something about a replica instead? Riku decided to save thinking for later. He didn't need this at the moment.

Focussing in on the battle at hand, glad that his zoning out had only taken a couple of seconds, he now saw that the illusion had fallen, and Zexion's replica(?) was now inching backwards, clutching his now bleeding shoulder. "This is over, for now." The nobody said, temporarily conceding defeat it seemed. Finally, the hexagonal barrier trapping him in place fell. However, Riku did not move. Instead, he stayed frozen to the spot in a slight shock.

He had almost given in to Ansem, and had considered going back to that place. It was like considering stabbing a friend in the back for more power. Sora and Kairi expected so much more from him. They were the denizens of light, the keybearer and a Princess of Heart. They were proof that a heart could be pure, and remain true no matter what. Riku fell to the ground, devastated. How could he compare to friends as strong as they?

"RIKU!"

He looked up from underneath his bangs and saw that Sora had arrived on the beach, since his entrapment by Zexion. He then realised that it was also night. He had apparently been trapped by Zexion for many hours. He could understand that though, he remembered that in the darkness, one lost track of time. Many hours could go by in a second, but likewise it felt like an eternity.

Sora vaulted over the shack and onto the bridge, running towards him with a concerned look marring his face. The view made Riku's heart swell, knowing that his friend remained strong, where his wavered. Sora truly was a vivid light, shining the way out of the darkness. He had somehow become his own personal Way to Dawn.

Riku straightened up. He would stay strong. He knew that despite all of his strength, Sora had one weakness and that was his friends. Riku managed a shaky smile.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed, "What happened here? What was that explosion?" Sora asked.

Riku vaguely remembered hearing an explosion sometime ago. "I'm not sure. All I know was that I was looking at Demyx's diary, when all of a sudden I was surrounded by heartless."

Sora gasped, "No way!"

Riku nodded. "Yeah. And you'll never guess who was behind it all." Riku said gravely. Sora looked at Riku with a tilted head but said nothing. "Organisation XIII"

Sora's eyes widened and he took a step back. Nothing had prepared him for this. "How can this be possible?!" Sora yelled.

Riku merely withdrew from his pocket Demyx's diary and turned to the page that he had been reading. Sora took it and skimmed through it as fast as he could. Steadily, Riku watched as Sora's face grew paler and paler.

"Replicas? You mean, they were replicating Organisation members? You weren't the only one?" Sora asked. The one thing he dreaded above all others was a return of Xemnas. That would spell disaster for all.

Riku nodded. "I don't know much about it. What I do know was that they have at least replicated Zexion." Riku crossed his arms. "I don't like this So-"

"!" Riku was cut off by a high pitched female scream.

Riku then remembered that there were two other boats on the dock. One was Riku's boat, and the other was-

"KAIRI!" Sora yelled, running to the other side of the island, where he somehow knew she would be. Riku stood there for a split second, processing Sora's train of thought. When he realised what this had meant, he ran after Sora, only a second behind.

*

Sora barely noticed the foliage rushing past him, nor felt it when he stubbed his toe on a rock lying on the ground. All of these things were irrelevant. The only thing that mattered to him now was finding Kairi, and making sure that she was okay. What felt like hours later he passed the flying fox tower, and found Kairi barely conscious. She was lying in the exact same place where two years earlier they had been building a raft to explore other worlds.

Around her were a multitude of high level heartless. One heartless, a Crimson Jazz, was burning Kairi with a low level fire spell.

With a battle cry, Sora dove into the fray and with him, several more heartless appeared.

Close on Sora's heels, Riku realised that the battle had only begun.

__

_AN: I'm sorry that there's no Demyx's diary in this chapter… and that it's been months since I've updated. Uni has been hell lately. Plus, I needed to think through the plot. There are probably plot holes, especially regarding the replica issue. So if you see any please tell me. _

_Anyway, stay tuned!_


End file.
